Humans Outside – Details, episodes & analysis

Did you know I’m a journalist? I mean, you probably do because I mention it in the intro of many episodes of Humans Outside. But you probably didn’t know I’m launching a local nonprofit newspaper.

It’s an all-consuming project, and going outside has been key to helping me get it off the ground.

Going outside daily has also been key to helping me understand how to manage my time, how to prioritize what’s important to me, how to make all of it happen in one day.

But it’s also taught me that the world is full of natural beginnings and endings as a part of the seasons.

Listen now.

Connect with this episode:

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[:36] A fun fact about me

[:54] In which I wax reminiscent about days of yore

[1:52] Why local news is so, so important

[2:35] My new local news project

[3:14] What outdoors continues to mean to me

[4:05] But I can’t do everything

[5:23] And so it comes down to this

Do you have one person whose work you’ve looked to for inspiration? For me, that’s Gretchen Rubin, author of the Happiness Project, and it’s why I was so excited to get her on Humans Outside for a sit-down. 

It was such a fun conversation that I want to make sure you get to hear it in this best of humans outside episode. I hope you love this interesting and inspirational conversation with Gretchen Rubin. 

Connect with this episode:

Read Life in 5 Senses (affiliate link)

Visit Gretchen’s website

Follow Gretchen on Instagram

Follow Gretchen on Facebook

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[3:05] Gretchen Rubin’s favorite outdoor space

[4:10] How Gretchen became someone who likes to go outside

[6:35] The problem of things taking effort

[8:47] Why Gretchen started her Life in 5 Senses project

[11:33] Does she still go to this place every day?

[11:38] How that practice is like a sit spot

[14:40] The freedom (and challenge) of doing something every day

[18:28] Gretchen’s favorite sense and how her experiment impacted it

[19:41] What do we lose when we ignore our senses?

[22:27] All about Gretchen’s daily outdoor project

[24:15] The difference between a chore and recess outside

[27:00] Why the freedom to choose your own rules is important (and hard)

[30:13] The inspiration for Gretchen’s project

[33:17] How her five sense are influencing her outdoor project

[36:19] Personal habits that make her outdoor time better

[40:21] Gretchen’s favorite outdoor moment

When was the last time you thought about the way learning to notice and navigate changing seasons affects how you view your indoor life?

One of the best things about spending a lot of time outdoors is how it prompts you to pause and see how the world is shifting day by day. Are you ready for it? Are you taking it as it comes?

No matter how you approach the shift in seasons, one thing is certain: getting used to changes outdoors can teach you a thing or two about changes indoors.

•  Getting okay with growth
•  Noticing when it's coming
•  Embracing what it brings

Listen to this episode of Humans Outside now!

Connect with this episode:

Join the Humans Outside Challenge

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[00:35] Here’s a highly philosophical observation about the sun

[01:28] We’ve got some signs of spring up in here

[02:31] Let’s get aware of seasons

[03:11] No solar eclipse here, but we do have seasons changing

[03:29] There’s sun and I’m not mad about it

[04:00] Just over here learning from nature for my inside life, once again

The more time you spend outside, the more you might be thinking about doing what you can to make sure the thing you love so much -- nature -- is taken care of and around for others to enjoy, too. It’s a bummer to watch something you enjoy so much disappear or be carelessly shoved aside.

In this “best of” Humans Outside episode Meg Carney, an outdoor minimalist, author and podcast host shares her tips for outdoor minimalism and it’s worth a listen.

Connect with this episode:

Learn about Outdoor Minimalist
Follow Outdoor Minimalist on Instagram
Follow Outdoor Minimalist on Facebook
Join the Humans Outside Challenge
Follow Humans Outside on Instagram
Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Life is full of forks in the road -- literally and figuratively. And over my more than 2,000 days going outside every single day for at least 20 minutes I’ve noticed something: the more I practice making decisions outside, the better I am at making them inside.

Why is that and why does it matter? Listen now.

Connect with this episode:

Join the Humans Outside Challenge
Follow Humans Outside on Instagram
Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[:40] Going outside means you’re going to encounter this

[:45] The many ways I’ve faced this

[1:15] What I’ve noticed about this over my outdoor time

[2:05] Taking this lesson inside

[3:00] Practice makes perfect when dealing with risk

One of the most frequent questions I get when it comes to heading outside is whether my family goes with me and, if so, how I get them out there. While the truth is that my daily outdoor habit is my habit and my family isn’t always with me, they often are. And I’m working hard to make going outside a part of who my kids are, just like heading outside has become a part of who I am.

So how do I make that happen? I lean into what we like to call “nearby nature,” that outside space that’s just where you are. It’s not complicated. Isn’t not hard to get to. It’s right there. It’s nearby.

But going outside as a family means everyone needs to sometimes reframe their expectations. In this best of episode Zenovia Stephens the founder of Black Kids Adventure tells us about her nearby nature and how she works with her own family to help other families appreciate it.

Connect with this episode: 

Visit Black Kids Adventures

Visit Black Adventure Crew

Follow Black Adventure Crew on Instagram and Facebook

Follow Black Kids Adventures on Instagram and Facebook

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Join the Humans Outside 365 Challenge

When it comes to balancing a desire to spend time outside with indoor obligations that keep your job and life running, a little bit of organization goes a long way.

I’ve realized that powering through one simple planning task every one of us faces is the difference between living in harried chaos and feeling like everything is under control with plenty of time for everything I want to do, including heading into nature.

So what is it? Menu planning.

(Yes, seriously.)

But I have figured out a way to make it as painless as possible (while still hating it). Listen now to find out what works for me, why it has such a major impact and how it could help you, too.

Connect with this episode:

Join the Humans Outside Challenge
Follow Humans Outside on Instagram
Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[:35] The major problem of this time of year

[1:00] Here comes the chaos

[2:07] The impact of time management

[2:30] I hate this, I really do

[3:06] Here’s why I do it anyway

[3:21] My system for tackling this

[4:30] The next step: food prep

[4:45] Why this matters for going outside

[5:31] Yup, I’m still learning.

How do you work through fear of outdoor unknowns? How do you get comfortable with nature-based risks like wildlife or finding danger when you’re all alone? What do you do about all of the outdoor “what ifs?”

Those are questions natural science illustrator and art instructor Sandy McDermott found herself grappling with after an unexpected move from the northeast U.S. to Anchorage, Alaska. And as she looked for ways to move through her fears, she turned to a familiar comfort -- creating the art that pushed her to head outside to start with.

In this episode Sandy talks about her ongoing journey towards getting comfortable with the uncomfortable and how you can overcome your own fears of the unknown in wild spaces. Listen now.

Connect with this episode:

Visit Sandy McDermott’s website

Follow Sandy on Instagram

Follow Sandy on Facebook

Connect with Sandy on LinkedIn

Register for Sandy’s newsletter

Join the Humans Outside Challenge

Follow Humans Outside on Instagram

Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[3:03] Sandy McDermott’s favorite outdoor space

[5:24] What does a nature illustrator actually do?

[7:24] The outdoor fears that surprised her in Alaska

[9:48] Did the fear surprise her?

[10:31] Normalizing the fear response

[13:45] Did she ever consider just staying inside?

[16:00] How all the problems add up

[21:58] How art has helped her work through the fears

[28:07] Is she surprised by where the journey has brought her?

[28:05] It’s called “bearanoid”

[33:21] What the combination of nature and art mean to her

[35:42] Tips for getting over nature fears

[45:38] Sandy’s favorite outdoor moment

Got hard stuff? Me, too. Fortunately for all of us, there’s nature to help with that.

One of the best things I’ve ever learned while recording episodes of Humans Outside is to think about nature as a container for all the tough stuff of life. So how do you do that? Listen now to find out.

Connect with this episode:

How to Use the Outdoors As Therapy (Judith Sadora)
Join the Humans Outside Challenge
Follow Humans Outside on Instagram
Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[;34] The importance of reframing and why I love it so

[1:15] One of my favorite reframings

[1:40] Think about the outdoors as a “container”

[2:15] Why a container is good for you too

[3:00] How I used the container recently

[4:00] How to make the container work for you

[4:10] The tool of soft focus

[5:12] Mind wandering + walking

[5:46] Working hard outside

[6:00] Don’t forget the container when you need it

It might also be trendy, but backyard chicken keeping isn’t just a delightful way to source a parade of fresh eggs and endless chicken entertainment, it’s also the perfect lure for getting outside regularly right where you are. And while, yes, keeping any outdoor animal provides the obligatory outdoor chore list, a backyard coop can also draw you into nature in ways that don’t include coop cleaning or flock feeding, says podcast guest Tove Danovich.

A journalist and author of the new book Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them, Tove has an insider perspective on all the ways keeping a parade of chickens can connect you with your own nearby nature, too. Listen now.

Connect with this episode:

Read Under the Henfluence (affiliate link)
Visit Tove Danovich’s website
Follow Tove on Instagram
Follow Tove’s chickens on Instagram (yes, really)
Follow Tove on Facebook
Follow Tove on Twitter
Join the Humans Outside Challenge
Follow Humans Outside on Instagram
Follow Humans Outside on Facebook

Some of the good stuff:

[3:16] Tove Danovich’s favorite outdoor space
[4:23] How Tove became someone who likes to go outside
[6:42] Tove’s chicken story
[8:45] Chicken math
[11:02] Is there such a thing as too many chickens?
[14:40] How chickens help Tove get outside
[18:00] Warning warning she might a birder
[22:30] Rooster problems
[23:53] Why it matters that the chickens don’t need her
[29:05] The inside scoop on chicken culture
[32:17] What people should know about chickens that the books don’t really say
[37:00] Keeping chickens from becoming a chore
[42:47] Tove’s favorite outdoor moment